Neptune class battleship

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General characteristics
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Displacement:	19,680 tons normal, 22,700 tons full load
Length:	546 ft (166.4 m)
Beam:	85 ft (25.9 m)
Draft:	26.3 ft (8 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines with 25,000 shp, 4 shafts
Speed:	21 knots
Complement:	757
Armament:	Ten 12 in guns (5 × 2) Sixteen 4 in guns (16 × 1) Three 18 in torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 10 in Barbettes: 9 in Bulkheads: 8 in Turret: 11 in Deck: 3 in

The Neptune class battleships were dreadnoughts of the British Royal Navy. There were originally going to be three ships in the class, but the second and third were given thicker armour and differed in other ways, and are usually characterized as Colossus-class vessels.

[edit] Design

The Neptune class was the first attempt by the Royal Navy to get a full ten-gun broadside from its dreadnoughts. This innovation was required to match competing foreign designs, such as the Brazilian Minas Geraes and the American Delaware class battleships. In previous classes, of the ten guns mounted only 8 could face either broadside. In the Neptunes, the wing turrets were staggered so that each could fire cross-deck past the other.

The staggered wing-turret arrangement had several ramifications, including a profligate consumption of deck length. This forced the designers to move the mid-ship "X" turret and place it next to the aft turret and superfire over it, thus economizing in deck space. The X turret was allowed to fire on the broadside only, since the blast of the upper guns concussed the men in the lower Y turret when firing astern. The superfiring disposition was placed aft because this made for a better sea boat than putting the huge weight of a pair of turrets towards the bow. Despite the new gun layout, the Neptunes still required an extra 10 feet of length and 1 foot of beam, resulting in a further increase of 650 tons over previous classes.

The main innovation in armour was the fitting of strakes protecting the funnel uptakes. Previously these were very vulnerable to damage that would have resulted in the lower decks being smoked out. Otherwise, the increasingly inadequate 10 inch main belt was retained, and this and the other strakes were repositioned in detail.

The power plant provided an additional 500 hp over previous classes to offset the greater displacement. The troublesome cruising turbines of previous classes were finally suppressed. Secondary armament was slightly reduced.

[edit] Problems

The 10-gun broadside layout was powerful, but only had a narrow arc.
Cross-deck firing of the main armaments damaged the ship so badly that it was not allowed in peacetime.
The layout of the guns complicated internal arrangements. As a result, the magazines competed for space with the ship's other machinery.
The magazines were also located very close to major heat sources. They were also placed close to the sides of the ship, making them particulary vulnerable to enemy attacks and fire.